Lyndelle Fairlie

Lyndelle Fairlie joined the SDSU faculty in 1973. Fairlie is a native of Chicago but all ancestors are from Scotland. Her B.A. in Economics is from Drew University, Madison, New Jersey. She has an M.A. from The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C. and a Ph. D. from Indiana University. Fairlie teaches European politics and runs the local internship program for senior majors. She lived for several years in Europe, including 2 years in England, a year in Italy and shorter periods in Belgium and Denmark. She has traveled extensively in Europe as far south as Turkey and as far east as the Baltic states and Russia.

In recent years, Fairlie's research has focused on border issues which are arising because the enlarging European Union now borders the former Soviet Union. As part of this work she had two appointments as a Guest Research Fellow at the Copenhagen Peace Research Institute. She has written monographs, articles and book chapters which focus on the issues arising from the forthcoming enclosure of a part of Russia within the enlarging European Union when Poland and Lithuania join. She is interested in expanding this interest to issues of comparative border politics and comparative visa policies.

Her research was funded by institutions including the following: Copenhagen Peace Research Institute, East West Institute, The Finnish Institute of International Affairs, the Institute for European Politics in Berlin, the British Embassy in Helsinki and The Schleswig-Holstein Institute for Peace Research at the Christian-Albrechts-University in Kiel, Germany.

After coming to SDSU, Fairlie became very involved in local environmental politics and was appointed to the San Diego Park and Recreation Board by two mayors as a result of her prior experience as Chairman of the San Diego Chapter of the Sierra Club. For several years she also taught State and Local Politics. She teaches Political Science 495, the local internship program for senior majors.

Fairlie has a variety of interests. As an amateur musician, she has played the oboe, clarinet and washtub bass in various local music groups. She has also taken Improv Comedy classes for years in San Diego and has dabbled in art classes. As a spectator she enjoys opera, music and art. In her Sierra Club days she did backpacking trips in the Sierras and still enjoys nature.